From fiery diss tracks to game-changing collabs and more
The hits seem like they never stop coming in Indian hip-hop. There’s always a bit of drama, because how else does skill get pushed beyond reasonable limits? Then, there’s linkups that work and don’t work (we’re focusing on the ones that banged) and projects that have changed the trajectory of the artists overnight.
We’re nearly through 2024 and this list is by no means exhaustive but more of an overview of everything that broke through the clutter. Here’s what’s gone down in hip-hop in India in 2024.
Hanumankind and Kalmi’s “Big Dawgs” took over the airwaves in July with its powerful visual and lyrical storytelling. Within a few weeks of releasing, it had over 4 million views on YouTube, another 4 million streams on Spotify and the whole world in the comments section. At the end of the year, that tally stands at over 177 million YouTube views and over 327 million Spotify plays. Hanumankind’s fist-tight flow and reference-heavy game earned him flowers from American hip-hop artist Project Pat (who’s referenced on the song), UGK’s Bun B and Three 6 Mafia’s Project Pat.
As the rapper’s reach got wider, he’s taking festival stages ranging from Rolling Loud Thailand to Coachella to Lollapalooza India. Plus, A$AP Rocky jumped in on a remix earlier this month, which gave us a new HMK verse as well.
Pushing limits and pushing p, Hanumankind has the world’s attention now.
Continuing from the global momentum that “beefing” was fueled by this year also saw some of the country’s finest artists go toe-to-toe in public clashes and diss tracks.
The one that caught the highest amount of eyeballs was undoubtedly the tete-a-tete between Delhi-duo Seedhe Maut and Kashmiri-duo Straight Outta Srinagar. With tracks such as “Blackball,” “Kaach Ke Ghar,” “Rasm-E-Chaharum” and “TT/Shutdown,” this month-and-a-half-long beef brought out some of the fiercest bars in Indian hip-hop.
Similarly, the diss tracks continued with Bombay mainstay Naezy poking and prodding at Pakistani artist Talha Anjum, prompting the latter to drop the tongue-in-cheek track “Kaun Talha.” This further led to the release of Naezy’s “Kya Bey Shaaney” amidst multiple podcast appearances by the Mumbai rapper.
Mumbai rappers Vijay Dk and MC Altaf took any slander from DG Immortals on “Title Kya Doon?” showing us that we really need more of their collabs, this time not necessarily while they’re defending the legacy of Gully rap.
Beefs clearly went beyond the artists – YouTuber and seasoned hip-hop analyst Rohan Cariappa’s YouTube page faced potential closure after he was hit with multiple copyright strikes from the makers of hip-hop talent show MTV Hustle. Even as everyone from Seedhe Maut’s Encore ABJ to Raftaar to Kr$na rallied behind Cariappa, the issue was somehow resolved, but Cariappa was the one to issue an apology, whereas MTV Hustle just put out a standard non-apology statement while they were in the eye of the storm.
In 2024, a surefire way to make heads turn and gain traction as fast as possible are collaborations and we got plenty of it.
Among the notable ones was the album Street Dreams, a long-anticipated team-up of Punjabi star Karan Aujla and Mumbai’s rap frontrunner Divine.
More rappers linked up with Aujla as well, including Ikka on “House of Lies” off the former’s album Only Love Gets Reply. The album also spawned the can’t-fail collab “Jagga Jatt” between Ikka, Diljit Dosanjh, Badshah and producer Sez On The Beat.
For his part, Badshah’s latest album Ek Tha Raja also took the collab-heavy route, because who else can boast about having Arijit Singh and MC Stan on one album?
Not one to be left behind (ever), Yo Yo Honey Singh’s Glory brought in Paradox for the song “Payal” and “Chhori,” plus Talwiinder on “High On Me.” The only thing was, the album stood on Singh’s shoulders entirely, with solo songs like “Millionaire.”
Raftaar’s surprise birthday drop Hard Drive Vol. 2 had its moments as well, elevated by songs like “Baawe” with Badshah and “Dehshat Ho” by Yashraj.
King’s Monopoly Moves was long-awaited by fans and it delivered hits like “Tere Ho Ke” with fellow Hustle contestant (and season 1 winner) Bella, “F*ck What They Say” with MC Stan, “Kodak” with Seedhe Maut, while early singles Karma on “Goat Shit” and “Bawe Main Check” with Raga were suitably fiery and set an unmatched precedent for the album.
Pataka Boys – the trio comprising PAV4N, Sonnyjim and Kartik – brought in Seedhe Maut for “Guddi Check” from the former’s debut album Thugs from Amritsar and it was buzzing with bars and the fireworks in the music video certainly represented an apt approach.
New Delhi launde Fotty Seven and Bali put out a whole EP of songs toasting (and roasting) their friendship on Jai Veeru, and the most notable hit was “Bhai Hai,” flexing their camaraderie.
Equally crowded (in a good way) was “Vartamaan,” bringing together Gujarat’s Dhanji and Siyaahi plus producer Acharya and New Delhi’s duo Full Power comprising Frappe Ash and Yungsta. As they’ve always proved, there’s never a thing as too many good rappers on a track.
While the likes of Karan Kanchan looked beyond Gully Gang to produce bops with everyone from Ranj x Clifr (“S.O.T.I”), The Rish (“Khoyi Khoyi”), Munawar Faruqui (“SuppaMario”) and Raga (“Soot Samet” and “Wolf”), other beatsmiths stayed locked-in to give us a glimpse of just how important the producer-rapper standing can be.
The Siege and Devonian, for example, burst out with the give-a-damn banger “CBSC,” and followed it up with singes like “By Any Means” and “Last Call,” later bringing in Shreyas and Nanku for a diverse tune “Ek Din.” Building off 2023 singles like “Wassuh” were rapper Dhp and producer Whoisavi, who put out the murky “Fast Track.”
Prabh Deep’s DSP mixtape could easily fall into the collab-heavy tab in this list, but we’d rather talk about how his linkup with the mysterious producer Scuti has led to some pretty great, even if underrated, material.
From the start of the year, rapper Rae Mulla teamed up with his former Sixk groupmate Harithelion for tunes like “Don’t Wanna Know,” “Breakdown” and “Pyaar.”
New Delhi’s Yungsta tapped U.K. artist Hadi for the roving, diverse EP Ulte Seedhe Gaane. Mumbai rapper Gravity’s album Moonbounce looked beyond hard bars and he had the wavy and trusty producer Outfly by his side.
Like Ab 17 on “Young 4Ever” from his album Mr. Baawe, “Sez On the Beat mere saath” — the album has incredible verve across 10 tracks released in June.
Not far behind with a full-length was Talwiinder and NDS’ Misfit, which proved the longtime collaborator pair were more in sync than ever.
What do we want to see more of? Team-ups like “Terror” between Shillong-origin rapper Reble and Ranchi artist Tre Ess. It’s a classic example of a rapper trying something different for themselves – like Reble’s Khasi rap – over off-the-beaten-path production value as well, which is actually Tre Ess’s trademark.
Indian hip-hop might be dominated by Hindi music, but more languages are making their presence felt like never before, with young torchbearers who hunger and claim their space.
Most notably that includes Punjabi teenaged artist Harsh Likhari. When he was blowing up on Instagram, Canadian artist and content creator Conor Price put the spotlight on Likhari for the “Spin The Globe” song series. Together, they put out the resolute “Customs” and Likhari’s place was cemented.
Then, Marathi rap blew up with Shreyas and producer Kratex’s “Taambdi Chaamdi,” which paired identity-affirming bars over a hypnotic house beat that could light any club dancefloor on fire. Becoming a staple on Instagram Reels audio and the Spotify Viral 50 – India playlist, it’s safe to say Kratex and Shreyas are a hitmaker combo.
Tamil artist Paal Dabba had the world dancing to his theatrics on “Kaathu Mela” with producer OfRo. Out via Think Indie, the Tamilalso launched another notable Tamil hit with Asal Kolaar’s “Paiya Dei,” in which the rapper reflected on his reality T.V. fame and how he’s about much more than that.
Out in the Gujarati scene, Hukeykaran built on his millions-streamed “Ame Gujarati” with a prolific streak, putting out the EP Che Te Che, a sequel “Ame Gujarati 2” and songs like “Khoto Sikko.”
Malayalam artist Baby Jean blew up like never before with “Kaayi,” following it up by featuring on Neeraj Madhav’s “Ballaatha Jaathi” alongside Dabzee.
Up north, Haryanvi hip-hop kept riding hard, with Dhanda Nyoliwala making a grand entrance with songs like “Russian Bandana” and his EP DNW Vol.1.
Conscious hip-hop still lives and thrives in India, even if artists don’t always make an all-out takedown of societal ills. Dabzee, Baby Jean and MC Couper launched “Ceasefire Now” against Israeli violence in Gaza.
Closer home, Manipuri artist Yelhomie asked “Is India My Home?” on his hard-hitting, must-hear song that details how his home state has been ignored.
Mumbai hip-hop artists Lil White, Noor Hasan, Rekoil Chafe also posed a powerful question on their song “Dharavi ka Dada Kaun?” As they took aim at the corruption in urban development specific to the area of Dharavi, the song found allies in activists like Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and YouTuber Dhruv Rathee.
The stories from within communities were amplified more than ever before, even if they were from rebellious figures like transgender rapper Kinari on her debut album Kattar Kinnar. With shots fired in all directions, this is what a resolute rapper sounds like in 2024.
There have been regular crossover songs for hip-hop artists in film soundtracks, and this year saw so far has seen a big hit for the likes of Dabzee on “Illuminati” from the Malayalam film Aavesham. Of course, Dabzee has appeared on other film songs this year, but nothing hit the spot quite right as “Illuminati.” The music for Aavesham also included the likes of Tamil artist Paal Dabba (“Galatta”) and Hanumankind (“The Last Dance”).
Although tangential, KR$NA’s “Joota Japani” earlier this year built on the famous Hindi film song “Mera Joota Hai Japan” from 1955’s Shri 420 by Mukesh. It was a choice that was at least partially prompted by KR$NA releasing the song via Saregama (who own the rights to the original) but the familiarity factor worked in the rapper’s favor.
The label also tapped the likes of Divine (last year for “4.10”) and officially gave a seal of approval to New Delhi rap pairing Karun and Nanku for the wispy “Mhmm” (originally out in 2018) that samples Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar’s duet “Gum Hai Kisi Ke Pyar Mein” from the RD Burman-composed soundtrack for 1972 movie Raampur Ka Lakshman.
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